I haven't Forgotten
by rt-empie
Summary: -Ib couldn't help but feel that she had forgotten something dear to her as she walked away from the painting- 12 years later, Eve and her elder sister go to the art gallery, and Eve stumbles over the Forgotten Portrait, throwing her back into Guertena's realm to find out the truth about Guertena. T for light swearing.
1. Eve

**I don't own Ib or any characters in the game. Thank you for reading this, I really appreciate it =D. Feel free to give constructive criticism, as I don't feel that this story is the best that I can write. Please enjoy.**

**Oh, I own my character, so yeah. Eve and Ib aren't the same person.**

**EDIT: I just realised some mistakes I made ^^' so I fixed them. If you find any, please tell me. I will fix them as soon as possible.**

* * *

_Ib looked at the painting a little longer. It was of a man with purple hair of strange shades. He was sleeping peacefully, while holding a blue rose.  
"Ib! Let's go!" a voice called. Ib looked behind her. Her mother was running up the stairs of the art gallery to her. "You shouldn't wander around like that! I was getting worried! How about we go eat something now, it's about noon. Your father and I will buy you muffins!"  
Ib smiled back at her mother and let herself be led away from the painting. She looked back at it felt tears spring into her eyes. She couldn't help but feel that she had forgotten something dear to her._

**Chapter 1**

"Hurry up, Eve! Your sister is already ready!" Eve's mother called from downstairs, in a tone of slight annoyance. Eve slowly walked down the stairs of their small family home, tying a small red ribbon into her hazel brown hair.

Her sister was standing in the doorway, checking her watch. "Eve, you have to hurry up sometimes," she said as she looked up at her younger sister, pushing back locks of hair behind her ears. She smiled anyway, and gently ushered Eve into the car.

"Why do we have to go to the _art gallery_ though? Why not a theme park or something?" Eve groaned, closing the car door.  
"Well, I received two free tickets to see the Guertena exhibition from my art class at university, so why should I waste them?" her sister answered, waving to their parents as she pulled out of the driveway. Eve waved to her mother and father as well, but didn't let the conversation between them just end there.  
"Why don't you get a _boyfriend_ then? You could go with him, and leave me at home-"  
"To play computer games all day? Nuh-uh. You need to get outside and have some fresh air. Besides, when I went to see the Guertena exhibition when I was a little younger than you, I had an amazing time."

Eve pouted and began playing with a wooden rose her sister had carved a few months ago. She couldn't deny that all she did was stay in her room and play computer games, but going to an _art gallery_? All you did at art galleries was stare at paintings. How _interesting. _

But she had to admit, her sister was amazing at painting, and definitely deserved to see the exhibition. She could draw all sorts of things, probably everything! She could sculpt as well, and loved to carve things out of wood – which was how she made her wooden rose. She was planning to become an architect or something, but that didn't stop her from designing other things.

The wooden rose was propped on a small stand in the back seat of the car. It was painted a beautiful shade of dark blue, with small dots of red that made it look like blood. The petals felt smooth and soft, just like a real rose. Her sister had said that she based it off a red rose petal she had found in her pocket at a similar exhibition 12 years ago, and had felt that it was a part of her. Her sister also found a lighter in her pocket, strangely, and apparently there mother and father yelled at her for weeks about playing with fire. It was kind of ironic though, as her sister was a light smoker now.

* * *

"We're here, Eve," her sister smiled, and opened the car door. Eve hastily shoved the wooden rose into her skirt pocket and escaped the captivity of the car.

Eve looked around the gallery car park. It was a lot fuller than she had expected – there was almost no spaces, and they were pretty lucky to have gotten a space. Maybe it was because they were early – she _should_ hurry up from now on.

When the pair walked in through the glass doors of the gallery, they were met with a blast of cold air. It was refreshing, and there was a short queue in front of the reception desk. Eve's sister hastily pulled out two tickets from her pocket and showed them to one of the receptionists. Within seconds, they were in the gallery.

"Um, sis, can I go explore for myself?" Eve asked, looking up at her sister. She didn't want to be babysat for the entire day, especially by her sister, who would probably win the award for the world's most overprotective sister.

"Sure, Eve. Make sure you have a gallery map, so you don't get lost… how about we meet at the cafeteria at about noon? It's here on the map, the triangle… okay? Stay safe okay, Eve? You listening?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it-"

"Don't forget your handkerchief! Where is it?" her sister pushed. Seriously?!

"I have it right here, calm down," Eve pulled out a handkerchief from her breast pocket.

"Be safe, m'kay?"

"Yeah."

With that, Eve walked off slowly. She turned around to see if her sister was still standing there, watching her to make sure she would be safe. She had already blended in into the crowd of people.

* * *

The gallery was actually rather interesting – there were weird paintings of such weird things – from newspapers to exquisitely detailed sofas. And that was only the Guertena exhibit – Eve had a whole gallery to explore. There was a beautiful portrait that had caught her eye though, more than any other display.

It was sleeping man with purple hair.

He was holding a dying rose, too stunningly beautiful to look real, even if it was wilting and was turning a gray-ish blue. The thorns of the rose were scratching the skin of the man's fingers, and had drawn blood from crescent shaped cuts. There were scars on his pale face and there were wet, red smudges on his cheeks. His messy appearance was finished by his rough and bedraggled hair. His eyes were closed, and despite the horrible circumstances he seemed to be in, he looked like he was in a deep, tranquil sleep.

Eve was captivated by the painting. She began to fiddle with her dark red skirt, which her sister had worn when she was little. The two sisters had such a stunning resemblance, even their parents commented on it. It was sort of annoying, but she accepted the compliment. It was a compliment because her sister was genuinely pretty. Why she didn't have a boyfriend was a mystery. Her sister always said that the person she truly cared for seemed to have walked into her life and out of it, before she even knew it, and she never felt the same about anyone else. She didn't even know why she felt like that. She just…_felt_ it.

Eve decided that she should stop looking at the portrait, otherwise she might even start crushing on him, and he was just a _painting_ for lord's sake. She had learnt quite a few facts whilst wandering around the gallery - the artist Guertena was a mysterious person, and no one knew almost anything of him. He disappeared many years ago, leaving his stunning collection of artworks behind. Eve hated mysteries like that. It felt better to know everything than to know nothing - it was human nature, and Eve was no different.

She began pacing around, glancing at different displays, but she couldn't take her mind off the painting of the purple haired man. He looked amazing, and…_perfect_, but he looked miserable.

And lonely.

Eve brushed her hair out of face and sat down on a nearby bench. That man in the painting was suffering, but he looked so peaceful. Maybe he had sacrificed something important to him for something else, and he didn't regret it one bit.

A strange feeling rushed over her – it was a mix of guilt and sadness.

_Stop, Eve. Get a hold of yourself. It's just a painting. Don't get so emotional over it._ She had to sit down. She had to recollect herself.

She plopped herself with a tired relief on a nearby bench. People walked past her, admiring the displays, paying no attention to her. Eve held her head in her hands, letting her hair fall over her shoulders. _Get over it!_

_Why am I feeling so emotional? Why do I feel so bad over a man in a painting. Get over it, get over it. Don't lose yourself! _It was no use – tears slowly seeped from her eyes, and she was shocked. She was _crying_. She could feel all the emotions that man was feeling – guilt, sadness, solitude. There was no happiness at all.

She felt it. The emotion, the sadness. All the emotions that defined the human spirit came crashing down onto her. She was laughing, crying, screaming, all at once. Her head sunk deeper into her hands. _Have I gone insane by looking at that painting?_

As quickly as it begun, she felt the weight slip off her shoulders - everything suddenly cleared, and she felt normal again, or at least, as normal as she possibly could be – she was feeling the same way as she was before she saw that portrait. Eve expected to hear the clatter of shoes, crowding around her, asking whether she had gone crazy or what from screaming like a stupid baby, but she heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. Fear overcame her. _What..?_

She shot up from her seat and looked around her. There was no one around. The lights had begun flickering. _What's going on?_

"Hello? Is anybody there…?" Eve looked around nervously. Where was she…? Where did everyone go? "Please, someone… anyone… help me. Where am I?"

She held her skirt and started shivering and sobbed.

"Anyone?!"

She was alone. She couldn't hold back anymore, and collapsed onto the ground, weeping desperately. How did she get here? Where was everyone? Was she even in the art gallery anymore?

The paintings seemed so much more ominous than they had done so earlier. They all seemed to be staring at her with intent eyes, as if they were waiting. Waiting for her to give up and devour her.

Eve wouldn't give in. She had to find out where she was, where everyone was. She stood up tall and looked at the paintings, wiping tears from her eyes. She was getting out of there.


	2. Locked in?

**Ahaa... thank you for the reviews =D. Looking at them made me feel so inclined to continue this story. I already wrote this chapter a while ago (then again, I started writing the whole story a while ago) so tadaaaa! Here it is.**

**Thank you for reading! **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Ib, then I would have made Ib older, so she could have gotten down with Garry in the room where they were alone and do some- *gets slapped* I don't own Ib **

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Eve looked around. She was in the art gallery corridor, and she still had the art gallery map. She probably would be able to find the entrance and at least get out.

Brushing her hair out of her eyes, she began walking.

There were stairs she had to descend from, and none of the elevators were working. All the paintings were staring eerily at her with each step she took. Life just got even worse.

The entrance of the art gallery had changed. They weren't glass doors anymore, they were locked, metal doors, with rusty cogs, nuts and bolts, and it wasn't going to be opened anytime soon. Eve even tried kicking down the door, obviously _that_ wouldn't work.

"Now what am I going to do?" she wailed, and slid onto the ground. She was stuck. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Was she going to be trapped here forever?

Before she could start despairing at her own misfortune, a strange sound caught her attention. She looked up at the door and her eyes widened in surprise.

_'You can't go yet, where are your petals? The Lady in Red would love to meet you.'_

The words had been etched slowly into the door, by itself. They just appeared.

"The Lady in Red? Who's that?" Eve wondered.

At that very moment, the sound of breaking glass sounded throughout the deserted gallery. The sound of squelching blood followed. Eve panicked.

"Who's there?!" she yelled, her back against the metal door. She didn't have anything to defend herself with. She was huge trouble.

"I….am….heerreee…." A hoarse voice replied. The squelching nose was becoming louder. It was coming closer. "You…smell….nicee…." Eve gasped when her eyes fell onto who - or whatever- it was.

A lady, that was from a painting Eve had seen earlier called 'The Lady in Red', was crawling across the ground in a ragged and ripped red dress, still dragging the frame of the painting she had come out of along with her. Her eyes were bright red, and blood poured from deep cuts she had along her arms and waist. A trail of red paint was left behind her as she dragged herself closer and closer to Eve. Eve screamed in fear and ran.

Shit just got real.

* * *

The Lady in Red was freakishly fast while only using her hands. Eve knew she needed to get out, but the entrance was locked and she had to find 'her petals' to open it. What did 'her petals' mean?

Eve fled up and down stairs, trying not to get lost. All the paintings were still watching her, but now, with a menacing stare. They could have jumped out of their paintings if they wanted to, but they didn't. They were enjoying themselves. Even the Lady in Red was enjoying herself as she chased Eve. She kept laughing manically, telling Eve jokingly to slow down. No freaking way was she slowing down. For _anything._

Eve finally dared to look behind her, as she hadn't heard the freakish laughter of the Lady in Red for a while. She wasn't there at all. She sighed in relief – she managed to get a good few rooms ahead of that creature, so now, she could find 'her petals'.

"Where are my petals?" she asked absentmindedly, looking around her, hoping that the paintings would give her some sort of hint. None of them seemed to be paying any attention to her anymore. They all had blank eyes, just staring into the distance.

Eve was still thinking when she tripped over something. After smashing her face against the ground, she looked up to see what had tripped her. It was a vine. A rose vine. She didn't know what to do now, but to follow the vine, then she could get out of there. The lights began to flicker again. Out of all times…?

Her eyes scanned the room, where were the vines coming from. Then she saw it.

Vines had grown beautifully around a transparent blue vase, embroidered with familiar flowery patterns, that was filled with water. And inside the vase, there sat a bright, red rose.

* * *

Eve didn't want to take the flower out of the vase, but she didn't seem to have much of a choice if she wanted to get out of the gallery. The rose seemed to nearly shiver with life as she stared intently at it, with fascinated eyes. It was genuinely a work of art.

Eve was about to touch the vase when she noticed a golden plate that had been partially covered with the rose vines. The thorns protruded from the vines dangerously, almost temptingly. She knew better than to touch them, after encountering the Lady in Red. She bent down and adjusted her cravat before reading the plate.

'_Please don't touch the displays. If this rule is breached, there will be dire consequences.'_

Dire consequences? Like what? She couldn't imagine anything worse than the situation she was in at the moment, so she ignored the sign. She touched the rose.

Nothing happened.

Eve nearly chuckled to herself as she pulled the rose from the vase. Sometimes you had to break the rules for your own good – and what was laughable was that absolutely nothing happened.

She tucked the rose into her skirt pocket and turned to leave. She screamed.

The Lady in Red was crawling towards her. She caught up. There was no way to get out – there was only one door, and that was the one the Lady in Red was coming through.

Crap.

* * *

**Yay! Thank you for reading! Please feel free to give constructive criticism, or any ideas you would like to see in later chapters!**


	3. Is there a way?

**_I haven't updated in a while, and there's bound to be quite a few mistakes in this chapter ^^' Please tell me if there are any mistakes or anything you don't understand. I should also apologize with how _slowly_ the story is at the moment. Things will start happening later. Thank you for reading!_**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

There was nowhere to run. The Lady in Red was blocking the only way out, and Eve knew that she was in deep trouble.

"…Come…to…me…" the painting groaned. She was clearly tired, but she still looked strong enough to strangle Eve if she came any closer.

Eve looked around. Did she have a weapon? Hers eyes fell onto the rose vines. The rose thorns looked sharp enough to deal some damage to the painting, but she could cut her hands in the process. She looked up.

The Lady in Red was slowly dragging herself over the first few rose vines, her wounds deepening and she looked even more hideous. Disgustingly hideous, but she was dangerous. More dangerous than the rose vines.

Eve didn't hesitate any longer. She ripped one of the rose vines from the vase, cutting her hands in the process, but it didn't hurt as much as she imagined. She charged at the painting and the Lady in Red seemed to panic – her dark hair curtained her face, so it was hard to tell what she was feeling.

Eve stabbed her with the rose vines.

The Lady in Red groaned in obvious pain, and tried to grab at Eve's cravat, but she darted out of arm's distance just in time. The creature collapsed onto the rose vines, and red paint continued to leak out of her gashes. She didn't move.

"I'm sorry…" Eve said, and looked back at the collapsed Lady in Red. She looked like a monster, no – she looked worse than that. But she knew it was no time to sit around and be sympathetic. She needed to leave, and she had a bad feeling that it wouldn't be as easy as she thought.

"Not…fair…" The Lady in Red's raspy voice echoed throughout the room.

* * *

She was standing in front of the gallery door, wandering what to do next. She held the rose tightly, occasionally glancing around, making sure nothing would jump out at her again. The writing on the door had been smudged with red paint, and Eve didn't want to touch it. She was just simply waiting. Was she meant to say something here?

"Um… I have my petals, will you let me through?" she asked, and she was surprised at how weak and scared she sounded. She wouldn't be able to hide the fear she felt, not ever.

Writing began scratching itself onto the door.

'_Welcome to Mary's World.' _Mary? Who's Mary?

Almost instantly, the door slowly creaked open, and Eve expected that she wouldn't be escaping this world so easily. Instead of the carpark, or even a portal to get out of the world, or anything, there was a dimly lit staircase, leading upwards. Eve craned her neck to try and see further up the stairs, but there was only darkness. Staying in the gallery wasn't going to do anything useful, so she had to go up, all while knowing that worse problems were waiting for her.

Looking around herself once more, she inhaled deeply and stepped through the doors. They slammed close behind her. There was no going back now.

_'Enjoy your stay.'_

* * *

Eve didn't know how far she had gone, but the stairs seemed to be going on forever. What was worse was that every now and then, writing in red paint would splatter itself onto the wall, reading all sorts of threats. _'Having fun?' 'Are we scaring u?' 'Oh my, your rose looks sad' 'Will you give it to me?' 'I'm hungry' 'Ley's play a little more' 'Stop, please, I want to play'._

Eve tried to ignore the words and continued walking up the stars slowly. Was there ever going to be an end to these stairs?

Yes. Finally, a tiny light began to shine in the distance. Eve began to run towards it. Was she going to get out of this horrid place?

She was in a room, and the walls were painted pink. The door was embroidered with flowery patterns. Was this her way out? Eve grasped the doorknob and turned it. The moment she did, she was met with extreme disappointment and more fear – which emotion outweighed another was in question.

It was not her way out, and all that was in this new world were crayon paths and crayon houses, all coloured in different pattern. There were a few signs, and on each, there were words scribbled onto them, like 'Library', and 'Glass House', all in white crayon. This world was far more eerie than the gallery, and every inch of 'Mary's World' covered in crayon only seemed to be a failed attempt at colouring the darkness.

Eve stepped out of the Pink Room and the door closed swiftly behind her. Whether to explore every single house or just to find how to get out – that was the dilemma Eve was facing. What could she do here?

_I need to know more about this place. I should stay here a bit longer._ She gulped. The thought of the Lady in Red jumping out at her was not very appealing, but she had to look around. That was what her sister had told her a long time ago.

_'Eve, listen to me. When you don't know what's going on, look around you, take in what you know. To survive, you need to know everything.'_

Those were pretty wise words for a girl to listen to at only the age of twelve, but they had such an unnervingmeaning that she couldn't forget them. Eve was glad that she was able to remember at least one of the things her sister told her.

* * *

There was only one house left. All the other crayon buildings had nothing of importance – one had a pink rabbit toy, the library had an opened chest, with the words 'Pandora's Box' scrawled onto the wall above it, another had a clock that had stop ticking, and the hands had been left at 4:29. There was also another transparent blue vase on a stool, filled with water and had been left next to the Pink Room, which definitely struck her as odd, as it was not coloured in crayon.

The house Eve was standing in front of had a door with a bright yellow heart drawn onto it with a marker. She touched the door – it was rough, and some of the colour scraped off it, like how when fingernails scratched at a crayon drawing. She pushed the door open.

The floor was black – a surprise to her, as all the other houses had coloured floors, on there were blue rose petals scattered across the floor. A lonely rose stem sat in the midst of the mess. Eve looked at it, and immediately thought of her own rose. The concept of the rose wilting finally came to her. What happened if it did wilt? She vaguely remembered the writing on the staircase walls when she had ascended them. Where the creatures in this world targeting her rose? Was that what the Lady in Red wanted?

She picked up the rose stem, and carefully placed it in her pocket. The scars she had caused herself earlier by attacking the Lady in Red hurt a little as she did. The rose stem could come in handy, she never knew.

There was a short staircase in front of her, and Eve didn't see any reason why not to go upstairs, so she did.

Cavernous red cracks covered the floor, and she carefully stepped over them. The cracks however, seemed to also be drawn out of crayon, but she wasn't taking any chances…yet. Soon enough, she was on the other side of the room. Bloodied manikin heads and ripped dolls were strewn across the floor, and some were hanging on red ropes from the ceiling. It was disgustingly horrible and frightening.

Eve was about to run for her life when she noticed something. On the ground was a palette knife, next to an unnaturally placed pile of ashes, and on the wall was a broken display frame, and shattered glass under it. Looking closer, Eve noticed small, burnt canvas, spread along the frame. An untouched, golden nameplate shone gently from under it.

'_Mary'_

Was Mary a painting?

* * *

Now what to do? Eve had basically leapt over the cracks and fled the room like a flying shit. That room seemed only to be a taste of what was to come, and she was already feeling uneasy and terrified.

She had already explored the entire crayon realm, and she saw no way of getting out. She looked back at the scattered blue petals on the floor. It was disheartening that such a beautiful flower could just be destroyed without thinking. Then, a breakthrough. There was staircase leading downwards.

She had come upstairs to this world, so by going down, she should be able to get out, right? With that, she began stepping carefully down the stairs, constantly glimpsing behind her. Being ambushed by a doll or the Lady in Red was not a good thought at all.

The staircase was short, and Eve was met with another dark landscape .She wasn't going to escape this time either. A path was outline in pink crayon, and she began to step further and further into the darkness. Dread overwhelmed her. She didn't want to be attacked in the darkness, let alone by some doll or anything. She was scared.

Her eyes began to adjust to the shadowy space, and she nearly screamed. There was a person on the side of the path, his eyes closed, lying down on the path. Eve stared at the man. He looked awfully familiar, but where had she seen him before? Then it struck her like a flying brick, and she even staggered a little at the realization. He was the man in the painting she had seen. She could see that he was holding something in his clenched fist, and bent down to pry open his fingers, realizing that they were cold as ice, and was he not breathing. He was holding remnants of blue flower petals. Was he…dead?

Blue rose petals. Eve began to feel inside her pocket for the rose stem she had found. Was the stem his? Had he died because his flower died?

Perhaps… she could save him?


End file.
